this past february, navy and marine corps conducted their first large-scale amphibious exercise in more than 10 years. in march, the army conducted its first exercise in its new decisive action framing environment that emphasizes combined arms maneuver against a combination of regular and conventional opponents. the second element of our defense strategy is to maintain our force protection where we needed. in the middle east and in the asia-pacific region. the asia-pacific region is obviously an area of growing importance to our economy and our security. in the middle east, represent continuing threats to our security as well. even after the withdrawal of troops from iraq. we have maintained a substantial military presence in the middle east. in order to deter aggression. respond to crisis, and short regional stability in the face of historic unrest and a continuing threat from iran. last week, i visited some of our troops based in kuwait, part of a robust posture that includes roughly 50,000 troops, dozens of ships, fighters, bombers, advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaiss